Here in Western Australia, regulatory frameworks in the water services is primarily legislated by the state government. These frameworks can regulate activities all the way from service providers to the treatment of wastewater. Some of these frameworks such as the Heath (Treatment of Sewage and Disposal of Effluent and Liquid Waste) Regulations 1974 are extremely detailed. Maybe even overly detailed, with some strict guidelines on the branding to be printed on the apparatus!
With the advent of modern wastewater engineering technology and some pretty airtight legislation, WA produces some of the most drinkable recycled water in the world. Lecturer Jonathan Bridge from the University of Liverpool suggests that we have reached a point where the bottleneck in the supply chain of water is not the legislation or engineering, but the social constructs surrounding recycling water from sewage for human consumption. This consumer sentiment has led state governments across the Australia to abandon this option. Essentially the development of better engineering practice was hampered by kind-of soft-regulation; a non-legislative framework imposed by the negative sentiment towards sewage.
This consumer behaviour/social construct is somewhat justified. I mean bad hygiene and poor handling of sewage were undoubtably factors in the genesis of diseases like the black plague and cholera. People won’t take too kindly to be forced to consume water from sewage that may have contained the corona virus. I mean it’d be stupid to blindly trust the governing bodies and legislators to properly handle treatment like the residents of Flint Michigan did.
With many drought-stricken cities in Australia like Toowoomba rejecting the idea of recycling of wastewater for human consumption, it has become apparent that many of our citizens are still living under the social constructs formed during a time where wastewater recycling was not yet conceived. Consequently, it is necessary to develop a framework to increase the water literacy of Australians. One of the best ways to do this should be transparency; people should be able to easily access information on their local water treatment processes in a digestible format (below). When we began sorting our household waste into general waste and recycling bins, we received a guide in the mail. It would also be a good idea to send a pamphlet to all households that would be receiving treated water.
(Water Corporation, 2020)
Deconstructing this social construct is important to the development of better engineering practice. By developing new treatment plants to recycle wastewater and sewage for potable water, engineers will run into new problems in the different types of treatment. In solving these problems, engineers can translate these solutions into other areas of wastewater engineering, improving the efficiency of treatment plans, leading to better practice.
The main sustainable development goal (SDG) that relates to dismantling this framework is #6: clean water & sanitation. If a significant portion (>30%) of Australia’s water was sourced from recycled wastewater and sewage, it would help meet SDG #6, as the accessibility to water in clean water would increase. This would be followed by a greater accessibility to sanitation. As water scarcity affects more than 40% of the world’s population, we can share the technology and knowledge that we gain/learn from implementing this first. In doing this we could help meet SDG #2: zero hunger. With roughly 8.9% of the world’s population struggling to put food on the table, accessibility to clean water can be an important turning point in this struggle as the agricultural industry is one of the greatest consumers of water.
Sources:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-19/drinking-recycled-water/9546900
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160105-why-we-will-all-one-day-drink-recycled-wastewater
https://www.watercorporation.com.au/Our-water/Wastewater/How-wastewater-is-treated
The Sh*tty Little Blue Planet 